Retirement

After 36 years with my current employer I am officially retired. The first morning that I didn’t have to go to work I had breakfast with my parents. Second item on my list was to start walking. Easy task for most people, but up to now, a challenging walk for me has consisted of going from my office to my car and then from the car into the grocery within 15 minutes. Keeping a realistic perspective of my physical abilities, I decide that walking to the corner and back would be a reasonable goal for my first day. That is a whole 5 houses down to the corner and then all the way back. I’m taking the Flea Taxi with me on this part of my retirement journey since she needs the exercise too, but mainly because I don’t think she will show me up to badly. She is our 9 year old buff color cockapoo who is about at the same physical level as I am. I started out walking slowly since this was a new frontier for my body and I didn’t want it going into shock even though my brain was already ripping down that path. Flea Taxi thought she had landed in heaven with all the new things to smell so she was trying to drag me along faster and I must say she did a magnificent job of watering things along the way. It was a blistering 95 degrees and 105 percent humidity, of this I am certain, because by the time we got to the corner we were both withering from the heat. Do you know how sad it is to see a grown woman shoving small dog out of the way to get to a mailbox post first because it’s the only shade to be seen? Flea Taxi barely moved the rest of the morning and I think she was actually glaring at me when I’d walk through the room. Third on my list for the day was going to water aerobics class. It was fun and I like a guy in uniform as well as the next gal, but I didn’t really want the rescue squad joining our class in the pool, so I didn’t push things too hard. I only had to have a little assistance from the receptionist to sign out. Once she lifted my arm onto the counter and put the pen in my hand I was able to handle things from there. I think my first day went really well.

Day two started with meeting friends for breakfast and shopping. More like the retirement I envisioned.

I made it to all my water aerobic classes, got a Mani and Pedi, even though I needed assistance to get my sore self into that big tall chair, did more shopping and had dinner with a friend. It was a great first week. Who would have thought that retirement would be so tiring? Once I rest up over the weekend I’ll do it all again with gusto!

Every fall my brother begins his annual treks to the local orchard. Not to get fresh-off-the-tree apples, as one would expect, but to get jugs of apple cider. He has been doing this for years and we have always encouraged him since he totes us back a gallon of fresh cider each time. (Caution: Over indulging on cider can have adverse affects on ones system and require staying close to home for a while) This is real apple cider, the kind where the whole apple is tossed into the mix and you get all the wonderful nutrients "as is". We used to go to my Granddad's farm and get bushels of apples each fall. There were always plenty that had fallen to the ground, but my brother thought it necessary to climb up and get a few more. You don't see many fruit trees in yards anymore. People don't want to be bothered with trees that might mess up their picture perfect years by dropping fruit. not to mention the fact that most would not know what to do with excess apples and they would probably freak out when they saw the first blemish, bruise or worm hole and toss the whole apple.

Apples have always been a mainstay for my family. Mom can't make it through a week without cooking apples in some form or fashion. She would make chunky applesauce that was nice and spicy and warm. We'd have fried apples, baked apples and fresh apple cake. Out favorite was what we called Apple Do Good. Put a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and we were in heaven. Apple Do Good was never long for this world. When I asked Mom for the recipe she laughed and said it was something that she just made up. She wrote it down for me and I have included it below.

Let me know if you try it. It won't taste quite the same for any two people, because the amount of love you put in there will make it your own and so far nobody has figure out my Mom's exact measurement on this. Enjoy!

Apples, peeled and cut into eights. Fill a 9" sprayed pie pan or 9" baking dish, heaping the apples in the center.

Sprinkle with 1/2 cup sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon.
Next, mix 1/2 cup sugar, 3/4 cup flour and cut in 1/3 cup butter until crumbly.
Sprinkle over apples and pat down.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until brown and bubbly.
Be sure to put a cookie sheet under the pan because it will run over.
Serve with ice cream!!

P.S. -- Quote from Mom "Notice no pie crust -- saves calories, as if we're counting!"

Mom also told me that her original recipe called for a double pie crust and since she devised this before ready made crusts were available, she just eliminated it. She said it really cut down on the prep time and having to cook after getting home from work would have made dinner really late. Not that we were impatient or anything....

Fresh Apple Cake (Pictured)
4 cups apples, peeled and sliced
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 cup nuts, coarsley chopped
2 eggs, well beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon connamon
1 teaspoon salt
Mix apples and sugar together. Add oil, nuts, eggs and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients tegether. Add to batter and mix until blended. Turn into a grased and floured 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until cake pulls from sides of pan. Frost with powdered sugar or serve with ice cream.

Today's Tidbit: Apple seeds are called pips. Apple seeds contain a cyanide compound. Don't panic. The outer shell of the pip is so hard that digestive juices can't break it down. And it would take a HUGE amount of crushed pips to do any harm to a living being, so don't even go there. Another thought....wonder if Gladys Knight and the Pips were originally Gladys Knight and the Apple Seeds?

What in the world is going on? It's the middle of October and they are saying that we might see a few snow flakes?

Well, you know what that means. Run to the kitchen and start a big pot of potato soup! There is no other soup that is as good on a cold day. My friend Lou makes the absolute best potato soup. Two of her secret ingredients are cream of chicken soup and cream cheese. Those are the only ones I know about because I snooped in the trash can! The others she will not share with me, but I love her anyway. She tops each bowl with a sprinkle of cheddar and some bacon bits. She can call anytime now and invite me and the Care Bear over. I'm waiting for the phone to ring. Still waiting....

When I make my soup, I just peel, dice and boil potatoes with onion, celery, salt and pepper in just enough chicken broth to keep them covered during cooking. Sometimes I add a carrot or a little ham if I have it. Once the veggies are soft I add some milk, butter and instant potato flakes to thicken. A small mountain of cheddar cheese on top and I'm ready to enjoy. Oh, almost forgot the saltine crackers. I can not eat soup or chili without adding enough crackers so the spoon stands up by itself. This is something that my brother and I have done since childhood. When my parents have us over for a soup dinner, they both just laugh at us crumbling up cracker and getting our soup at just the right thickness, and ask if we'd like to have some soup with those crackers. Tons of crackers is the only way my daughter has had soup, so she is right there with us.

One other thing we do is eat peanut butter and crackers with our soup. I have no idea where that started, but the peanut butter is on the table before anything else when we have soup. Since I make vegetable soup without meat a lot of times, I justify the peanut butter as the protein.

You can not compare the canned potato soup to home made. I made the mistake of buying a can of potato soup thinking that it would be so much easier and quicker than making it myself. Well, that didn't work. I threw it out after about two bites. It did not taste good at all. Actually, making your own is cheaper and my list of ingredients was way shorter and I could spell them all. And I know for a fact that there are real potatoes in my home made version. As for the canned I can not with any certainty say those were real potatoes...

Road Rage

Last week my trusty car decided it needed a day at the spa to get rejuvenated. It started complaining in the garage by not wanting to start but after a couple times Thumper started humming along. So the Bear and I headed off to our morning destinations. For about 100 yards. Thumper quit, right there in the middle of the street! Have you ever had your car just quit while you were driving? There is NO power steering and NO brakes. I managed to get over to the curb and as I looked ahead there was nothing but bumper to bumper traffic on the street I needed to turn on. Understand that the drivers of these cars are not typical. They are parents of cute little ones going to the two private schools just down the way. At this time of the morning they are balancing their coffee mug, handing a pop tart to the munchkins in the back of the mini van, proof-reading the homework that is just being finished, putting in a new DVD for the baby to watch and all the while talking to the car in front of them about the upcoming tee ball practice later in the day. That is not the kind of traffic you want to venture into with a hiccupping car.

After getting safely to the curb I proceeded with plan B. Call Dad. Within 15 minutes Dad was there to the rescue with Mom riding shotgun. Whew. I have no idea what I would do without them. We went back to their house so the Bear and I could get Dad's truck. He can never get rid of that truck because my bother and I need it! The Bear loves riding in the truck...why? The mirror on the visor has lights! Yes, lights! Our ride isn't quite that spiffy. Those of you who know the Bear totally understand this fascination, so the rest of the way she sat there watching me drive in the visor mirror. Yes, her day had a glorious start!

The parents live on a really nice wide, straight street that is a favorite route for many of the morning drivers. As we went down the street there were three police officers working a speed trap. One with his radar gun, and two actively writing tickets. Economic recovery plan in action! They do fly down through there and everyone knows they do this regularly. Anyway, as I was coming back that way I made sure that I was only going 25 mph because I'm just not sure I could have taken the added stress of a ticket that morning without doing someone bodily harm. There was a truck that had pulled in behind me and not being happy with my 25 mph decided to honk his horn at me. I kept on at 25 mph. A couple houses farther down the street I ventured a peek in the rear view mirror and low and behold he was pounding his fists on his steering wheel and screaming. He was SO mad at me. About that time we rounded the curve and there were the three amigos still writing tickets. At the stop sign just a little farther down the way I looked up to see a big smiling face that was eating a huge piece of humble pie looking at me and waving as hard as he could to thank me. I'd put money on the table that the next day he was speeding down that street again.

I should have pulled over and let him pass me...

Life in the Aging Lane

My mind is racing with ideas to post out here and then when I actually sit down to start...poof! They all disappear. I would ask my doctor about my thought train getting derailed so often, but I'm sure she would just sigh and say those words I hear so often..."It's just the aging process." I am not doing this aging thing very gracefully. It seems that all the pieces and parts that I have left on this body the doctors want a snip, clip or small sample of. Funny thing is, the ones that are sagging, wrinkled or misshapen are being avoided like the plague. Just had a skin cancer removed from just below my lower eyelid. They had to take some skin from the upper eye lid to graft over the spot, which ended up being about the size of an almond. So now that most of the swelling has gone down it is quite obvious that I have had a beautiful eye lift on that side. However, the other one is still hanging there in all it's glory. They can fix it, no problem. No problem for them. For me it's a major problem. To get my eyes back to looking like they both belong to me (when I was much younger!) I will have to pay for the second eye lift myself. It is considered plastic/cosmetic surgery. So until I can collect enough aluminum cans to pay for this I will have one young, perky eye and one that is age appropriate for me.